Thursday, March 24, 2011

Cadence- Get It Up!

Spinning Thursday's evolves right before our eyes.  It starts in a cycling room where we get on our bikes (after sizing it for our height and preference). how-to-set-up-a-spinning-bike. Our bikes don't have gears like a normal outdoor bike might have, but simply a resistance knob that turns to the left or right to set resistance.  The normal starting speed of cycling for me is usually moderate.  At the starting point there is a need to get your legs warm and ready for the class which is where we all begin.  As we sit through this process (John our instructor) starts setting up an obstacle course right in front of us.  This process can take 5-10 minutes. 

Today he set 2 dumb bells at the base of our bikes and then set mats randomly next to one another, then he set up step raises far enough from each other so we have room to jump, run, or zig zag our way through them.  At the other end we did (with weights in hand) sit ups, mountain climbers, and planks.  On the back end of the exercises we held our weights up over our heads while on our backs and while our legs were lifted over our head moved our legs from side to side. We also did a few sets of lunges with our weights in our hands back and forth a few times.

All exercises are done in between spurts on the bike. John emphasised the need to ensure our cadence was at a strong enough speed that we were burning enough.  Even though the cadence that I prefer is at a moderate speed, being that this is boot camp was pushed to Get It Up to a speed that brings discomfort.  I'm sure the outcome means more calories burned, increased endurance, and strength~ but it's still hard.

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